By Melissa Maynard | RISMEDIA, Thursday, April 11, 2013
Anthony Behrens worries that the Affordable Care Act is going to kill him, but not for the usual reasons cited by opponents of the federal health care law.
Behrens is a senior policy analyst in the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services Insurance Division. The task of implementing the health law has kept him sitting at his desk 12 hours during the day followed by another few hours at home each night.
Behrens was so alarmed by research pointing to possible long-term health consequences from sitting for extended periods of time that he pitched a solution to his local state legislator: installing treadmill desks that would allow state workers to walk at slow speeds while they are working.
“Even if you get regular exercise at a gym, you’re still going to die sooner if you spend a certain amount of time sitting at a desk,” Behrens says. “I didn’t realize that if you sit for an hour, from that point on your body shuts down and almost goes into hibernation mode.” Read more…